The Zoo....

In the search to not only build memories but create experiences for Reese that are fun and at the same time educational....boy do we sound like the "perfect parents" COMPLETELY KIDDING.....we decided that a trip to the Zoo might be fun for Reese. The operative word is might.

I'll say this...when I write in the blog, sometimes the level of detail is such that it seems as though Reese reacted differently than she really did. Like the Luigi story. I can't possibly type words that would take you to our car that day so you could see her eyes literally grow to the size of saucers. At the same time, while thinking of descriptions for the Zoo outing...everything that I'd say would make it seem like Reese had a horrible time when in fact it seems NOW that this was quite the opposite. You remember the days of riding a ride or doing something that you were petrified of doing but after having done said petrifying thing, that was all in the world you could talk about? This was Reese at the Zoo. Everything was just a little larger than life for her and there was a level of uneasiness about the whole trip. At the same time there was also a level of tolerance that was just open enough to the idea of checking things out, but on her terms.


For instance...the Kangaroo.

She was interested for sure but you can see the clinging little girl in the bottom picture. She was a little stressed by the whole experience. Kim would pick her up to show her something and Reese would protest by saying that she wanted to get down. I'm not certain if her perspective was more comfortable or the clearer view sometimes made it a little too close for her.

In reflection of the day, Reese now proclaims that she saw GORIRRAS. And we did.

What humors me about these pics is that they resemble the Patterson-Gimlin film hoax of Bigfoot - reminder pic included...Pretty similar if you ask me but only my warped mind would link these two images. But I mean seriously, I'm not crazy am I?


Anyway....we saw Pandas.

These jokers were behind glass and Reese was still a little skeptical of the whole thing. I think stress of the day caused Reese to constantly pull up her dress...or she's turning into an exhibitionist.

This is a PG rated pic. She was putting on quite a show for some of the toddler boys in the park on Saturday morning.

Finally we took a break, ate a snack and finished off the day with tons of parakeets, some more crazy swooping birds, lemurs, zebras, giraffes, and ostriches. By the end of the visit, Reese was sort of hitting the wall. She walked the entire park and was pretty much overwhelmed from the minute we walked in and saw the flamingos. Even still, she was a little trooper with the whole thing and proves to be very tolerant of just about anything. We had her so far out of her comfort zone Saturday that she was literally stuttering most of the day...something that continued even into Sunday (when Google'd it turns out that stuttering is pretty normal for her age as her brain is outworking her mouth but she was overwhelmed as well so it should pass - we hope.)

So today, when we were playing after dinner....guess what she was talking about? The place that pretty much scared the hell out of her....the Zoo. My little scaredy-cat.